Matthew 11:28 * June 29, 2008 * Pentecost 7 * Pastor Pagels
In the name of Christ Jesus, dear friends:
The faded, old magazine in my hand originally sold for $3, but it is much more valuable to me. It’s a program from a baseball game played by the Milwaukee Brewers and the St. Louis Cardinals. I was ten years old at the time, and baseball was my life. I could recite every statistic about every player. I was a proud member of the Brewers Pepsi fan club, and it was my dream to see my favorite team play in the World Series.
Little did I know that my dream would come true. Some members from my dad’s church had an
extra ticket to Game 5 (the last game played in
How about you? Have you ever had an unforgettable experience like that? Of the dozens or even hundreds of invitations you have received in your lifetime (to birthdays, weddings, graduations, etc.), is there one that stands out in your mind? Is there one invitation that stands above all the rest?
If you can think of one, I want you to move it down one notch this morning. I want you to move that memory into second place because today God gives you something even better. In the gospel lesson Jesus gives you and me an invitation, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that it is…
THE MOST INVITING INVITATION OF ALL
“Come.” That little word can take on different meanings in different situations. The mother in the grocery store orders her wandering child to “come” in the sense of “Come back here or else!” The salesperson at the kiosk in the mall asks complete strangers to “come” and take a look at what he is selling.
“Come” was a fairly common word in Jesus’ vocabulary. He called two fishermen named Peter and
Andrew to “Come, follow me” (Matthew
4:19). He told his overworked
disciples to “Come with me by yourselves
to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31). As he stood on the shore of the
And today Jesus stands in front of you. He looks into your eyes. He looks into your soul. And with a gentle voice, he says:
“Come.” “Come…all you who are weary and burdened.”
Does that describe you? Do you feel weary and/or burdened? Before you answer, let me explain what those two words mean. “Weary” is synonymous with tired, worn out, burned out. Picture a hamster spinning on a wheel, except it’s not a hamster. It’s you. You work and work and work, but your work never gets done and you never get a break.
The Greek word for “burdened” was used to describe the cargo on a ship. When a ship is carrying a heavy load the weight forces it to sink down deeper in the water. When it is people who are “burdened,” they can be weighed down (figuratively speaking) by any number of things.
So when Jesus invited all the weary and burdened to come to him, who was he talking about?
He was speaking to people who were weighed down by guilt. He was talking to people who were burdened with the impossible task of keeping all kinds of man-made religious laws in addition to God’s law (which they couldn’t keep either). He was talking to people who were tired of trying to live good lives because no matter how hard they tried it was never good enough.
What those “weary and burdened” people had in common, what we all have in common, is sin. This truth comes out in the other Scripture lessons for today. The lessons appointed for each Sunday are carefully chosen to match the theme of the day, and this morning the first and second lessons are perfect complements to the gospel lesson from Matthew.
In the second lesson Paul speaks openly about his personal
struggle with sin. Paul wrote half of
the books of the New Testament. Paul ranks
among the greatest missionaries of all time, but you wouldn’t know it by
reading Romans 7. There he writes in
great detail about his daily battle with sin.
He openly admits that he can’t stop sinning. He even goes so far as to call himself “a wretched man” (24) who desperately needs
to be rescued from the death he deserves.
The Old Testament lesson is a conversation between Moses and God. Like Paul Moses was burdened by sin, but in this case the sin was not all his own. Exodus 33 follows the incident of the Golden Calf (recorded in Exodus 32). When Moses came down from the mountain with the law of God and saw what the people were doing, he became so angry that he smashed the stone tablets in his hands.
But the very next day Moses said to the people: “You have committed a great sin. But now I will go up to the LORD; perhaps I can make atonement for your sin” (Exodus 32:30). And he did. Moses spoke to God on behalf of the people. Moses reminded God that the Israelites were his people (Exodus 33:13). He asked the Lord to forgive them, but it wasn’t easy.
The Israelites were constantly grumbling and complaining against God and against Moses. As soon as Moses was out of sight, they threw themselves into idolatry and immorality. And the sins of the people took a toll on Moses. There were days when he felt pretty weary. There were times when leading such stiff-necked people felt like a heavy burden.
Can you put yourself in Moses’ sandals? Can you think of a time when someone close to you, someone you care about, disappointed you? Even though they knew better, they still did something that hurt you deeply. Maybe they did it more than once. Maybe you can still feel the hurt today.
If you know how that feels, that might help you understand how God feels. We aren’t any better than Israelites who sinned in the wilderness. We are like Paul who couldn’t stop sinning even when he tried. The good that we want to do we don’t do. The evil that we do not want to do we do. And we do it every day. We hurt the people we love the most. We hurt the God who loves us more than anything else. And we can’t make the hurt go away.
Don’t bother trying to work off your sins. You’ll only wear yourself out. Don’t bother trying to get rid of your guilt. The burden is way too heavy for anyone to move. You don’t have any other options. You have no choice but to conclude: “What a wretched man (or woman or child) I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24)?
Who will rescue me from this body of death? That was Paul’s question. That is the question asked by every sin-burdened soul. This was Paul’s answer: “Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord” (Romans 7:25a)! Jesus put it a little differently. He said: “Come to me.”
The fact that Jesus made it a special point to invite people to come to him implies that sinful people don’t do it naturally on their own. The fact that God preserved these words for future generations of his followers reminds us that we need the same reminder.
There is only one right way to deal with our sin. There is only one place we can go to get rid of our guilt. Relief can’t be found in the bottom of a bottle. No amount of money can buy this kind of peace. It won’t do any good to fill up your life with all kinds of activities, because no matter how much you do it will never be enough to fill the hole in your soul.
Instead of going down all of those wrong paths Jesus says: “Come to me. Come to me with all your frustrations and fears. Come to me with all your guilt and shame. Come into my outstretched arms, the same arms that were stretched out for you on cross. Come and take my hand, the same hands that were pierced for your sins. Come to the font and have your sins washed away in the waters of Holy Baptism. Come to the table and receive the assurance of forgiveness in my Holy Supper. Sinner, when you have nowhere else to go, come to me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give your rest.”
This wasn’t the first time God promised to give his people rest. For as long as they could remember the seventh day of each week (the Sabbath) was set apart by God as a day of rest. We know about rest too. Summer is the time when many families take vacations, and one of the main reasons people go on vacation is to get some rest.
Rest is necessary. Rest is good, but that precious time when we are able to get away from it all will eventually come to an end. As soon as the sun sets on Saturday evening the Sabbath Day is over. And people who go on vacation know that sooner or later they will have to go back to work.
The rest that Jesus promises is different. The rest that Jesus offers is unique. It isn’t physical. It isn’t temporary. It isn’t the difference between working and not working. It isn’t about relaxing. It’s about believing. “Trust in me,” Jesus says, “and you will find rest for your souls.”
Jesus has accomplished your salvation from start to finish. He fulfilled every prophecy. He obeyed every command. He has forgiven every sin. When the Father looks at you he sees his Son’s perfection. When the Father looks at you he sees a dear child. So you can rest.
Jesus has opened up a 24/7 line of communication between you and God. You can pray to him about anything, anywhere and at any time. No problem is too small for him to consider. No problem is too big for him to solve. So you can rest.
Jesus has promised to be with you every day of your life. He is more powerful than your most powerful enemy. He knows you better than anyone. He loves you more than anyone. So you can rest.
Jesus has ascended into heaven to make things ready for your arrival. You don’t have to be afraid of death. You don’t have to be afraid of anything. You have Jesus’ promise that he will take care of you. You have Jesus’ word that he will come back for you. So you can rest.
At the beginning of this sermon I asked you think of the best invitation you ever received. As we come to the end I want you to do something that might be a little easier. Think of an invitation that you were less than thrilled to receive. Maybe you didn’t want to go because you wanted to do something else. Maybe you didn’t really know the person who sent you the invitation. Maybe you didn’t want to buy a gift.
The invitation Jesus gives us today isn’t like that. The invitation Jesus gives us has no downside. It doesn’t cost us anything, and it promises us absolutely everything. And that is what makes Jesus’ invitation the most inviting invitation of all. Amen.